Dangerous occupations, including many sports, require the participant to wear protective gear in order to ward off both minor and major injury. In many cases protective head gear as well as gear for protection of the eyes and face is an important aspect. As well known in the art, protective helmets are often combined with eye protection such as goggles or face masks in order to achieve these ends.
One drawback of such prior art approaches is that the goggles or face masks are first secured to the wearer's head using an elastic strap or the like, with the helmet then being placed on the wearers head over the strap. As a result, the elastic strap of the goggles sits underneath the helmet, which is uncomfortable. Alternatively, the strap can be placed over the helmet, but this in many cases leads to the outer edges of the goggles being raised off the wearer's face, thereby reducing the protection afforded by the goggles.
In order to address the above drawbacks, the prior art reveals visors which are integrated into the helmet. These visors typically improve the seal between eye and face protection and the helmet. However, they also exhibit a number of drawbacks. For example, they either enclose the wearer's face entirely (for example, in the case of a full face motorcycle helmet) or, in the case of partial visor, do not prevent material, projectiles and the like from entering from below the lower edge of the visor. Additionally, provision of a visor typically means that other protective goggles or facemasks cannot be worn, thereby limiting the versatility of the helmet.
The prior art also reveals adapters for improving attachment of the goggles by strap to the helmet, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,663. One drawback of these prior art inventions is that although the goggles form a good seal with the wearer's face, the helmet and goggles are able to move relative to one another, and a gap where the wearer's face is exposed is typically formed between the upper edge of the goggles and the lower edge of the helmet. In activities where small high speed projectiles (such as bullets, BBs or Simunition®) are involved, such as warfare, paintball and simulated war games, exposure of the wearer in this manner can lead to significant injury and even death.